Turkish undergraduates' misconceptions of evaporation, evaporation rate, and vapour pressure

This study focused on students' misconceptions related to evaporation, evaporation rate, and vapour pressure. Open-ended diagnostic questions were used with 107 undergraduates in the Primary Science Teacher Training Department in a state university in Turkey. In addition, 14 students from that sample were interviewed to clarify their written responses and to further probe their understandings of the questions asked in the test. The findings revealed a number of misconceptions, many of which have not been previously documented. The results have implications for tertiary level teaching suggesting that a substantial review of teaching strategies is needed.